Tag Archives: International Criminal Court

Yesterday, I was chatting with a student here at St. John’s who told me about the KONY 2012 campaign that has gone viral, receiving tens of millions of hits in just a few days this week. KONY 2012 is a campaign by a non-profit organization called Invisible Children to arrest and bring to trial Joseph Kony, the leader of the so-called Lord’s Resistance Army, which has been terrorizing Uganda. In particular, the campaign alleges, Kony has been involved with the abduction of tens of thousands of children to serve as soldiers in the LRA. The campaign wants Kony prosecuted for war crimes.

One reason the campaign has gone viral is that Invisible Children has targeted Christian activists in America, who have been promoting KONY 2012 on their blogs. (Although Invisible Children is not a sectarian organization, its founders are apparently Christians whose zeal derives at least in part from their Christian convictions). According to Christianity Today, however, these activists have begun to have second thoughts. Apparently, Invisible Children has a mixed record for transparency and truth-telling. Critics also point out that Invisible Children backs the Ugandan army, which itself has been accused of human-rights violations. The story is here.

Yesterday, the Center for Constitutional Rights requested that the International Criminal Court, a tribunal headquartered in The Hague, prosecute the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI, and three cardinals for “crimes against humanity” in connection with the clergy sex-abuse scandal. The complaint alleges that the Vatican tolerated the systematic and widespread rape and torture of children and vulnerable adults throughout the world and that Pope Benedict XVI and three cardinals bear personal responsibility for these crimes as a matter of direct authority and respondeat superior.

There are serious legal problems with CCR’s complaint. First, sexual abuse by clergy does not fit easily within the definition of a “crime against humanity” contained in the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute of 2002. The Rome Statute defines a “crime against humanity” as “a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population,” a definition that suggests something like a wartime atrocity. Second, the Vatican is not a state-party to the Rome Treaty. That’s not necessarily a show-stopper, as the ICC has jurisdiction over crimes Continue reading →